Teen superhero,
Starrella, and her flying horse combat vicious killers in the skies of
Atalanta.

The quiet summer before
her freshman year turns frighteningly weird after Estelle Wright trespasses
onto an Army base. Blown into the air and knocked unconscious, she wakes with a
nascent superpower. Not to mention a winged horse with a snarky attitude and a
mind of her own.

Back home in Atalanta,
a serial killer is targeting the students at Goldman University. Before long
she must juggle college classes with sneaking out of the house after dark to
battle alien monsters. Estelle’s life is in danger, but who can she trust: handsome
Mark Copper from military intelligence, or hunky Toby, the tough gangster with
a motorbike? Both men have secret agendas, but falling in love is not in their
plans.

Young adult
superheroes, quirky animal sidekicks, and a dash of romance enliven this thrilling
adventure. Book 1 of the Secret Supers.

Excerpt

Flying with Rockette a few nights later,
Starrella spotted the shadow of a giant mantis swaying back and forth against a
moonlit brick wall. In the dark alley below, the crisp footsteps of a lone
woman echoed faintly. The intended victim peered from side to side, nervous,
yet unaware of the terror lurking above her head.

“Rockette,”
Starrella warned.

“Seen it.”
Spreading her wings, the mare glided down toward the mantis. Her silent descent
brought them within ten feet before the mantis noticed.

It lunged for the flying mare.

Focusing her energies, Starrella shot a beam of
fire at the head of the huge insect. The flame seared across its huge eyes. It
screeched, clawed at its head and dropped into the darkness of the alley. Meanwhile,
the pedestrian had trotted around the corner into the safety of the well-lit
main street.

Rockette straightened her legs and landed in an
empty lot between the buildings. Slipping off the mare’s back, Estelle circled
the space, alert for another attack from the injured mantis. Behind her, Rockette
snorted and stamped her hooves, impatient at the delay.

A rush of air and the mare squealed, her hooves
shuffling on the asphalt. Swiveling toward the sound, Starrella bit her lip.
Mantis mandibles clamped onto a feathery wing, pinning the mare on the ground. In
a blur of white feathers, Rockette struggled to free her wing, twisting and
kicking with no visible effect.

Starrella pointed her fingers and hesitated,
unsure of her target. White mare and green mantis writhed together, and she was
afraid of hitting the wrong one.

A black shape bounded out of the darkness,
resolving into the lithe body of a large cat. Leaping onto the struggling
combatants, the cat’s teeth snapped into the neck of the mantis. The mare jerked
away and stood shuddering as the mantis legs scrabbled on the tarmac.

Starrella raced to her mare. The big cat turned
to face her, bared its curved fangs and snarled. Halting cautiously, Starrella tossed
her hair back over her shoulders and stared at the powerful black cat. Nearly
as tall as the mare, its sleek black fur had the pale yellow splotches of a
South American jaguar.

A faint sound called her attention to the dark
side of the building.

A man stepped out of the darkness, all in black
except for his eyes. In the dull black material of his close-fitting suit, he
was almost invisible, like a moving shadow. Even so, she recognized his distinctive
broad shoulders and muscular arms.

“Toby!” Starrella cried. “What the heck is
going on?” She stepped closer, holding out her hand to show the small flame rising
from her palm.

His eyes glinted in the moonlight. “Super
Starrella’s firepower! Great, we’ll need you for the mantis attack.” He
drawled, “They’re out in force tonight.”

Saturday, December 2, 2017

Welcome to another Sunday
with Weekend
Writing Warriors. Meet writers in various genres and
read 8-10 sentence snippets of their stories.

Sorry, I skipped last weekend, but I’ll continue the scene from
my latest novel set on Jupiter’s moon, Europa.

Tag line: Daredevil scientist and scarred alien in
perilous alliance

Blurb

Dr. Nikki
Bell’s plan to discover intelligent life in the oceans of Europa hits a rocky
start when her spaceship crashes on the icy surface. Seconds before she blacks
out, she spies a man’s face in the water beneath the ice. When she wakes on the
submarine Station, nobody believes her story. Convinced the mysterious stranger
saved her life, Nikki searches for him while she explores the ocean and its
alien inhabitants.

Kiron
Arqin Ramis chose exile as a Watcher on a remote outpost to redeem his family’s
honor. He never expected to find an attractive Earther woman close to death. He
violates the prime policy by rescuing her. Despite suffering the penalty, he
strives to warn her about his hostile leaders.

Nikki’s
unexpected meeting with Kiron triggers a chain of disasters in Europa’s
perilous oceans. Can the daredevil scientist and scarred Watcher forge a new
alliance despite their people’s antagonism?

Book 1 in a
new SciFi series, Taxyon Space.

Nikki has descended to Bathos, a separate part of Galileo
Station constructed on the seabed of the Europan ocean. She plans to live on
Bathos while she explores the native marine life. Tech Albright, aka Big Al, is
giving her a tour. He explains what her predecessor told him: “One time, maybe six or seven weeks ago, Sally claimed the
sub’s monitors had picked up an object shooting across the edge of their range;
something shaped like a hunch-backed man.”

“I didn’t see anything about a
man in her official reports,” Nikki frowned and tapped a rhythm on her wrist.
Had Dr. Merrigold seen her rescuer, the red-haired man? She arched her
eyebrows, “Did she investigate?”

“Reckon she did; Sally went off
in her sub and never came back; bloody disappeared!”

“Major Tarlick said they found
the sub.”

“Real tricky search; four
searchers in two subs with a load of detectors surveyed a wide area around her
logged destination. Search took seven days; ocean’s a big place.” Al swung his
arms in a semicircle, indicating everything outside the Station, “Mountains and
valleys on the seabed, deep pits and fissures, volcanic vents; a ton of
critters swarming everywhere.”

Nikki nodded, “Are you suggesting
she was attacked and eaten by a large carnivore?”

This year, I began a new series intended
to be science fiction adventures. But, romance slipped into the first book and
the story of Nikki and Kiron continues in Book 2, which is currently at a messy
32k words.

Blurb

What
alien creatures lurk under the icy surface of Europa?

Dr.
Nikki Bell’s plan to discover intelligent life hits a rocky start when her
spaceship crashes on the icy surface of Europa. Seconds before she blacks out,
she spies a man’s face in the water beneath the ice. When she wakes on the
submarine Station, nobody believes her story. Convinced the mysterious stranger
saved her life, Nikki searches for him while she explores the ocean and its
alien inhabitants.

Kiron
Arqin Ramis chose exile as a Watcher on a remote outpost to redeem his family’s
honor. He never expected to find an attractive Earther woman close to death. He
violates the prime policy by rescuing her. Despite suffering the penalty, he
strives to warn her about his hostile leaders.

Nikki’s
unexpected meeting with Kiron triggers a chain of disasters in Europa’s
perilous oceans. Can the daredevil scientist and scarred Watcher forge a new
alliance despite their people’s antagonism?

Science
fiction thriller and romance: Book 1 of Taxyon Space, a saga of our journey to
the stars.

Excerpt:

Nikki
and Kiron have been meeting in secret and they’ve been doing more than chatting.
This is Nikki’s first serious relationship since her fiancé died three years
ago, but she is about to learn it is different for him.

The
other human colonists are unaware of the Warrish Watchers in the waters of
Europa.

“Kiron,” she said, “Don’t you want to stay with me?”

“I wish to swim by your side.” His response sounded like a
ritual phrase.

She pressed her point. “Do you love me?”

He straightened and took a deep breath as if he were about to
submerge in the water. “Why do you ask?”

“Please,” she begged. “I’d like to know how you feel.”

“My feelings have no importance in Warrish society.”

“You’re dithering. Why can’t you just say yes or no?”

Brushing his knuckles over her cheek, he murmured, “Warrish have
no concept of your word ‘love’. Not as I understand the meaning from Earther
broadcasts.”

“No love? But you must have sex. What about marriage between two
people?”

“The triad is the key unit. We do not choose our matches. Our
families arrange a union between two triads, a male triad and a female, to
unite in pairs. Triad matches are chosen for political advantage. The highest
ranking families can sometimes arrange sets of interlocking triads.”

Bewildered by the Warrish triad system, Nikki shook her head.
“It sounds awfully complex.” She wrapped her arms around Kiron. “Forget your
triad system for the moment. Kiss me.”

He complied.

The membrane dimpled overhead.

Kiron pushed her away.

Two Warrish descended, feet first, into the tent. They aimed
tube weapons. Before Nikki could react, one man flung a net around her. She
glimpsed Kiron through the mesh. He glowered, his mouth a thin line of
suppressed fury. His hands were pinned behind his back by a heavier man.

Enraged and shaking with shock, she struggled in the net, only
becoming more entangled. Unable to reach her com, she glared at the Warrish.
Had Kiron betrayed her? What did they mean to do with her?